Joe Allen is out of the World Cup and could be out of Stoke’s visit to Manchester City on Saturday.

The popular midfielder suffered a double blow as Wales failed to make the World Cup play-offs and he suffered a head injury during the first half of tonight's 1-0 defeat to Ireland in Cardiff.

Allen is now an early doubt for Stoke's trip to The Etihad at the weekend following a hefty collision which left him leaving the pitch looking groggy.

He departed the scene with the score 0-0 in the first half, but Ireland stunned Wales after the break when West Brom's James McClean fired the visitors in front with a thumping finish at the end of a rare move of quality.

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Ireland now progress to a two-legged play-off next month for the right to play in next summer's World Cup finals in Russia.

Ireland’s former Stoke City favourite Glenn Whelan made his 83rd appearance for his country after being thrown on as a late sub to help see the job through for the victorious Irish.

But fellow former Stokie Jon Walters was forced to watch the game from the stands in Cardiff because of injury.

Wales and Stoke City midfielder Joe Allen goes down injured under a challenge from Republic of Ireland duo James McClean and David Meyler at the Cardiff City Stadium.

The groggy Allen had to be substituted 10 minutes before half-time after being caught in an Irish sandwich between McClean and David Meyler, and the Stoke midfielder was assessed by medical staff before leaving the Cardiff City Stadium. From then on the course of the match swung in the Republic's favour.

Speaking after the game, Wales boss Chris Coleman said: "We missed Joe, he's critical to how we play. It affected us when he went off.

"We just came up a bit short, we needed that first goal, but it went to them. We got a bit frustrated, started rushing things, and it wasn't quite enough."

Allen's World Cup heartache was mirrored by fellow Stoke midfielder Darren Fletcher on Sunday after Scotland also fell short of the play-offs.